July 14th, 2010 by DoctorZaidi

In a latest study, HDD  (Hormone D Deficiency) was found to be a significant factor in causing Dementia in the  old age. The study was published in the  July 12, 2010 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. In this Italian study, investigators found that people who were deficient in vitamin D were 60% more likely to develop dementia compared to those who were not vitamin D deficient. This was a prospective, well-designed and unbiased study. By doing a rigorous mathematical analysis, researchers were able to conclude that vitamin D deficiency was the cause and not the effect in these old patients with dementia.

These findings are truly of monumental significance. Dementia is one of the most devastating diseases of the old age. At the present time, no cure or true prevention for this disease exists. Imagine, now you might be able to prevent dementia simply by taking enough vitamin D supplement.

In the previous studies, Hormone D has been shown to be intimately involved in the normal functioning of the brain and nerve tissues. It even facilitates the removal of amyloid, a substance that accumulates in the brain to cause Alzheimer’s dementia. Hormone D also prevents the immune damage to the brain and nerves. In this way, vitamin D plays an important role in the prevention as well as treatment of M.S.  Vitamin D also prevents the cell death of nerve tissue and may be very helpful in the prevention and treatment of Parkinson’d disease.

Written by Sarfraz Zaidi, MD.

www.Doctorzaidi.com

All Rights Reserved.

June 16th, 2010 by DoctorZaidi

Parkinson’s disease patient are particularly low in Hormone (vitamin) D and therefore suffer from the effects of HDD, which include decrease in muscle strength and a very high prevalence of osteopenia/osteoporosis (weak bones.) Due to difficulty in walking that occurs due to Parkinson’s disease itself, these people are at high risk for falling and fracturing their already weakened bones due to HDD.
These patients can benefit tremendously from properly building up their vitamin D levels, which have been shown to strengthen muscles and  bones and decrease the risk of fractures.

Can there be a direct link between HDD and Parkinson’s disease?
A researcher from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, published an article in the Journal of  Movement Disorder in 2007. He believes that vitamin D deficiency may be playing a significant role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease.
Obviously further research is needed in this area. So far all the medicines to treat Parkinson’s disease actually simply control the symptoms, while the disease itself continues to progress with time.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if a simple remedy such vitamin D supplement could slow down or even halt the progression of this crippling disease?

June 2nd, 2010 by DoctorZaidi

These days people are getting all kinds of misleading information about vitamin D. It blows my mind to hear comments like,”go outdoors 15 minutes a day three times a week and your vitamin D will be good” or “ if you drink milk, eat fish or take a multivitamin pill,  your vitamin D will be good.”  I advise these people to take the guess work out and have a blood test for vitamin D. A majority of them turn out to be low in vitamin D. This is the most scientific way of  finding out whether you are low in vitamin D or not. It factors in all the variables that contribute to your vitamin D level such as your sun exposure, eating habits, lifestyle, medical conditions, age, weight, race, geographic location,  medical conditions, surgeries etc. No more guess work, be scientific!

Your vitamin D level is the basic starting point. Go from here. This is the foundation of the strategy that I developed and put into practice 10 years ago. Since then, I have seen great beneficial effects of vitamin D in my patients,  without the risk of toxicity. In order to make this strategy available to those who cannot see me in my office, I wrote this book, “Power of Vitamin D.”

May 21st, 2010 by DoctorZaidi

There are many drugs available to treat osteoporosis. But all of these have potential serious side-effects. For example, popular anti-osteoporosis drugs such as Fosamax, Actonel, and Boniva can cause melting away of the jaw bones as well as unusual fractures of the leg bones. Forteo has the potential side-effect of bone cancer. In comparison, vitamin D is very effective in the treatment as well as prevention of osteoporosis. Vitamin D is safe, cheap and readily available. Therefore, make sure you have an optimal level of vitamin D to keep your bones healthy. Refer to my book, “Power of Vitamin D” to learn how to obtain an optimal level of  vitamin D safely without the risk of toxicity.

May 13th, 2010 by DoctorZaidi

The majority of the diabetics have Type 2 diabetes. In these individuals, the root cause of diabetes is insulin resistance. Therefore, treatment should aim at reducing insulin resistance. When you treat insulin resistance, you not only control blood glucose levels but also prevent heart attacks and strokes, which are other manifestations of insulin resistance. I have developed a strategy to treat insulin resistance that has worked well in thousands of my diabetic patients over the last 15 years. I have discussed this strategy in detail in my book, “Take Charge of Your Diabetes.”

April 28th, 2010 by DoctorZaidi

HDD emerges as the mother of all diseases. Is there a link between HDD and diabetes? The answer is yes!

HDD or Vitamin D deficiency is linked to both Type 1 as well as Type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. Vitamin D deficiency causes immune dysfunction and in this way contributes to the development of Type 1 diabetes.

Vitamin D deficiency also causes insulin resistance, the main culprit for the development of Type 2 diabetes.

In our vast experience with diabetic patients at the Jamila Diabetes and Endocrine Medical Center,  we find vitamin D supplementation an important factor in managing diabetes as a part of my 5-component strategy to control diabetes, which I have described in my book, “Take Charge of Your Diabetes.”

Unfortunately, most physicians are not aware of these strong relationships between vitamin D deficiency and diabetes. But you don’t have to wait till your physician decides to learn about vitamin D and Diabetes.

Get your Vitamin D level checked and follow the guidelines I have provided in my book, “Power of Vitamin D” to take charge of your Vitamin D needs.

April 16th, 2010 by DoctorZaidi

Vitamin D is extremely important for the health of the mother and baby. If you are low in Vitamin D, you may not only jeopardize your own health but the health of your baby as well.

Most pregnant women take a Prenatal vitamin which contains 100% of the daily recommended dose of vitamin D. But this dose is not sufficient for most people. Consequently most pregnant women are low in vitamin D despite faithfully taking prenatal vitamins.

Therefore, if you are pregnant or planning to get pregnant, make sure you have a good level of vitamin D.  For details, please refer to my book, Power of Vitamin D at www.powerofvitamind.com

April 3rd, 2010 by DoctorZaidi

Vitamin D is not a vitamin but a hormone. We physicians have known this basic fact for over thirty years. Yet we continue to call it vitamin D. Amazing, isn’t it! By calling it a vitamin, physicians don’t take it seriously.

What is a hormone?  A hormone is a substance that is produced in one part of your body, gets into blood circulation and then exerts its effects on various organs in the body. Hormone D is naturally produced in the skin upon exposure to sun. It is synthesized from cholesterol in your skin. Vitamin D formed in your skin, then enters the blood circulation, undergoes slight chemical changes in the  liver and then in the kidneys. It then reenters blood circulation as the active form of vitamin D and exerts its beneficial effects on every organ system in the body. Perhaps now you understand how important Hormone D is for the normal health of our body.

When you are low in a hormone, you actually suffer from a disease. For example when you are low in insulin, you have diabetes. In the same way, when you are low in Hormone D, you suffer from what I call, Hormone D Deficiency or HDD.

HDD can be called the mother of all diseases as it is at the root of most of the medical illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, kidney disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases, chronic fatigue, mood disorders, dental problems, skin disorders and neurologic diseases such as M.S. and autism.

If you are a health care provider or otherwise proactive about educating the public about their health, please join me to spread the awareness about HDD.

Written by Sarfraz Zaidi, MD.

www.Doctorzaidi.com

All Rights Reserved.

March 31st, 2010 by admin

Former president Bill Clinton is in the news again. On February 11, he had two stents placed in his clogged coronary arteries. Remember, only about 5 years ago, he had undergone quadruple heart bypass surgery.

Why did he need another procedure for the clogged coronary arteries only a few years after having gone thru major bypass surgery? This happens all too often. Every physician knows that. Isn’t it time we look deeper instead of just keep doing damage control by procedure after procedure.

What really causes clogging of the coronary arteries to begin with? Is it simply cholesterol? Then a cholesterol lowering medicine such as statin drug should be able to prevent further clogging of arteries. But does it? Every physician knows that patients on statin drugs continue to require repeated procedures such as stent placements and heart bypass surgery . And you can verify it by sitting in an ER and taking history from those coming with chest pain. Why?

Obviously the solution is not as simple as most people are made to believe.

If you don’t identify the real root cause of a problem, you will continue to suffer its consequences.

So what is the root cause of clogging of coronary arteries? In most cases ( especially if you are overweight ) it is Insulin Resistance: a complex process in your body which is responsible not only for the clogging of the arteries but also can lead to prediabetes, diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer.
Physicians who are knowledgeable in the field of insulin resistance are Endocrinologists. The irony is people rush to seek help about the clogging of their coronary arteries from cardiologists who do procedures aimed at fixing the consequences, but in general do not treat insulin resistance, the root cause. Therefore, people continue to suffer more and more coronary events. No one ever thinks of consulting an endocrinologist: the only physician who can take care of the root of the problem.

Any one who has a coronary history should consult, in additon to a cardiologist, an endocrinologist for the evaluation and treatment of insulin resistance.

Click here to to learn about Insulin Resistance and Heart Disease:

http://www.onlinemedinfo.com/heart.html

Written by Sarfraz Zaidi, MD.

 www.Doctorzaidi.com

All Rights Reserved.

March 31st, 2010 by admin

Avandia (rosiglitazone) is back in the news!

According to the New York Times, internal F.D.A. reports say “that if every diabetic now taking Avandia were instead given a similar pill named Actos, about 500 heart attacks and 300 cases of heart failure would be averted every month because Avandia can hurt the heart.”

Since late 2007, there has been controversy about the safety of Avandia, but the F.D.A. has decided to keep the drug on the market.

Back in 1999, when Avandia and Actos were released to treat Type 2 Diabetes, I, like some other endocrinologists, picked Actos over Avandia. Why? Because although the two drugs belong to the same class of drugs, TZD  (Thiazolidinediones), they are different from each other as far as their effect on Triglycerides (lipids) is concerned.

In Type 2 diabetics, there is an increase in the blood level of triglycerides, which is due to insulin resistance at the level of the fat cell. In the vast majority of Type 2 diabetics, insulin resistance is the root cause.

While Actos consistently decreases the level of triglycerides, Avandia has variable effects and can sometimes increase the blood level of triglycerides. For this reason, I decided to choose Actos over Avandia and was not swayed by the intense marketing done by Avandia’s manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline.

As it turns out, this was a good decision. My patients have benefitted from the great effects of Actos and did not suffer from the potential bad side-effects of Avandia.

Over the last ten years of using Actos in thousands of my diabetic patients, I find this drug to be safe and an extraordinary drug in treating Type 2 diabetics.

Written by Sarfraz Zaidi, MD.

 www.Doctorzaidi.com

All Rights Reserved.